LIONEL MESSI

The two La Liga titans meet at Santiago Bernabeu.

The two La Liga giants tangle at Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed his dream-buy to be Santos star Neymar.

There were no surprises when the nominees for the FIFA Ballon d'Or was announced Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Xavi shortlisted for the prestigious award.

The Catalans received two goals from Cesc Fabregas.

Picking the best of anything is a tough task when it involves a huge sample size. It rings no truer than when attempting to pick out 10 best goals of a whole year. The task is no laughing matter. However, it was a lot of fun.

The player has been nicknamed “the Romanian Lionel Messi.

Barcelona held off Milan, 3 -2

The Catalans won a seesaw battle in Milan.

Rooney is United's highest goal scorer, in the current format of the Premier League.

Four different players scored for Barcelona.

He is the first Spanish player to reach 50 international goals and is Spain's all-time top scorer.

Lionel Messi was Barcelona's savior as he scored in injury time to salvage a draw at Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Primera Division on Sunday.

Cristiano Ronaldo, the world's most expensive player, boosted up his bid to grab the Golden Boot again with yet another sparkling performance. At 83,000-seat Santiago Bernabeu stadium, Ronaldo struck a hat-trick as Spanish leader Real Madrid crushed 10-man Osasuna 7-1 on Sunday.

Neymar has attracted attention from high-profile clubs around Europe such as Manchester United, Inter Milan, Chelsea, AC Milan, Juventus and Real Madrid

Here are 10 footballers who also should have been included in the coveted list.

Defending champions Barcelona became the first team to qualify for the knock-out rounds with a 4-0 win at Viktoria Plzen in the Uefa Champions League.

The 23-man shortlist for the 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or is dominated by Barcelona and Real Madrid players, who make up more than half of the nominees.

Here is the list of the nominees for the 2011 FIFA Ballon d’Or World Player of the Year.

Barcelona star Lionel Messi has been backed by teammate Cesc Fabregas to leave behind his recent below-par form.

Barcelona got an easy victory on Wednesday.